While I was still a computer science student at the University of British Columbia, I joined a young software startup called Robelle, named for the two founders Robert and Annabelle. I was the first employee.
As a requirement of my employment Bob and Annabelle insisted that I had to write my first technical paper, submit it to the 1980 International Hewlett-Packard General Systems User Group, and if accepted travel to the conference to present my paper.
A couple of years ago, I was face-to-face with my fears. My wife Karalee and I were in Santa Cruz for a conference with my long-time technology friends where we spent the weekend collaborating and discussing the future of technology and innovation. The conference ended Sunday afternoon, after which Karalee and I had a nice drive, followed by dinner. We turned in for the night, ready for an early morning start to return to Vancouver.
All seemed copacetic until I was awakened at 4:00 am by the sound of running, shouting, and hitting all right under the window of our ocean facing hotel room. Then there was silence for a few minutes. Then I could hear a voice calling out quietly from the street below “Help me.”
A few years ago, I suffered a torn retina in my left eye that became a detached retina, which was immediately operated on. A side effect of the retina surgery was that a cataract developed in my left lens.
For over a year my vision was impaired. The cataract developed so fast that almost every fifteen days I could tell of negative changes in my vision. As I lost more and more of the vision in my left eye, I was left only being able to see smudges of color.
The evening was dedicated to celebrating the 50thanniversary of the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. All around me were other award recipients. My heart skipped a beat as I heard my name called out to come on stage to receive a service award for my work over the years with the department.
In my experience, it is really hard to appreciate the value of inexperience. When I look back at my life, some of the most powerful experiences came about because I just didn’t know better. Here are a few examples of times when I went into new adventures inexperienced.